Stingy Stones avoid tax on £240m fortune | the Daily Mail
The Rolling Stones have paid just 1.6 per cent tax on their earnings of £242million over the past 20 years, it has emerged.
Documents published in Holland show that Sir Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts and Keith Richards used offshore trusts and companies to ensure tax breaks.
Of the fortune they have accumulated since 1986 for royalties, they have paid just £3.9 million in taxes.
Watts is said to be worth £ 80million, and as main songwriters, Richards is worth £185million while Sir Mick’s fortune is as much as £205million.
Their fortunes have been secretly invested in the country for the past 35 years. The trusts will control the rights to the Stones’ music, performances, merchandise and films. Under Dutch law, certain information must be made public – allowingdetails of their extraordinary tax break to emerge.
The band started banking in Holland in 1972 because, reportedly they did not trust British finance houses.
Under Dutch law, there is no direct tax on royalties. They have been tax exiles ever since – meaning they cannot make Britain their main home.
Their holding company, Promogroup, has offices in both Holland and the Caribbean, allowing them to reduce tax liabilities.
As a latecomer to the band, Ronnie Wood, 59 – who replaced Brian Jones in 1969 – does not qualify to his assets managed by the same group as the others.
There is no record of Bill Wyman, 69, who left the band in 1992, in the registration for the trust.
U2 were obviously so impressed by the Stones’s fiscal arrangements that the Irish rock band now share the group’s Dutch financial director, Jan Favie.
It’s good to see that Mick, despite having dropped out of the London School of Economics to pursue some frivolous dream of becoming a musician, hasn’t let that education go entirely to waste.
But such shoddy treatment of poor Ronnie – 36 years in the band, and still not allowed in the inner circle.
Thats a nice photo shot of the Stones. Lets not forget Mick Taylor was with the Stones several years/ albums before Ronnie Wood, (who was playing with Rod Stewart & Faces during that time.)
Mick has always exerised good business mgmt all throughout thier illustrious career, despite losing large perctange to his exwives.